'Impeach' chants interrupt Pelosi at California Democratic Convention

SAN FRANCISCO — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's speech before the California Democratic Convention was briefly disrupted by calls for President Trump's impeachment.

"With the power of the gavel we will continue to legislate to make progress for the American people, but we will also investigate to defend our democracy this president and his administration have cowered on," the California Democrat told the gathering held in San Francisco, touting how six House committees are leading inquiries into Trump, his 2016 campaign, and the president's business dealings.

Pelosi, who has been steering her conference away from commencing proceedings to forcibly remove Trump from office after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, vowed to uncover "the truth for the American people."

"Why is it that the president of the United States won't defend our democracy from this foreign threat? What is the president covering up?" the speaker said, before chants of "impeach" broke out in the convention hall. "I told you this was like coming home for me," she jested in response.

Democratic congressional leadership has faced escalating pressure from some of their members, including 2020 candidates for the party's presidential nomination, to move toward ousting Trump from the White House. The chorus grew louder this week after Mueller's public statement in which he said his team would have explicitly stated the president did not commit a crime if it was confident he didn't. Pelosi, however, has been slow-walking the prospect of an impeachment given the divisiveness the process could cause for the country.

"We will go where the facts lead us, we will insist on the truth, we will build an ironclad case to act, because in the United States of America, no one is [above] the law," she said.